Hey all, Scott here! I bought new clothes! That's why they always call me "New Clothes Scott". I love designs like this so much, I should go as far as possible with that look! [Tattoo Artist]: What kind of tattoo you wan- Plaid. Could've just gotten the Xbox controller. It's a brand new day, I wake up and what do I do? I buy more useless trash. If I run out of money, I'll just sell another kidney. I don't care. Look! I bought another rice cooker for the collection. That's a core problem when it comes to your everyday video game player. We end up buying a lot of stuff we don't... really need. I mean sure, I don't *need* Rhythm Heaven Fever, damn it, I need two! They're obviously products we all want, but don't really need. However, buying new video games brings us entertaining experiences we wouldn't have had otherwise. But we all have those things we *really* don't need but sort of kind of want anyways, and game companies know this. That's why they all say "Grab the paint, Scott's a moron!" I'm not as ashamed as I wanted to be. The special editions, products that have a special little paint job that makes you squirm at the thought of not owning it. Even if you have the standard edition of a game console already and it works perfectly fine, you even think it already looks nice and sleek and all that, just when a Glacier White PlayStation 4 gets announced, yeah, alright, where do I sign? Special edition game systems have somewhat puzzled me, because in many cases these special editions appeal to hardcore fans- fans who already own the console, so to have them buy a completely new one just for a different paint job... it's a lot to go through. Which is why I think special edition controllers are where it's at! The controllers are the kind of things you usually buy multiples of for your system. So hey, why not pick up the special ones? You can never have enough this! But here's the thing, controllers are absolutely abused. These things are put through so much! And if you play games you know you're prone to some thumb grease. To buy a controller based on its looks alone, and with it only being available for a limited time, I almost don't want to use it. I know if I do, it's more susceptible to wear and tear, and if it breaks down I don't want to buy another one! By the time I have to do that, it's gonna be ten times more expensive online! Have you *seen* the Cheeto market? People pay top dollar for special trash, imagine how much I have to pay for a new Halo Reach controller. Who chews on thumb sticks!? Special edition controllers, they're always a joy to see, plus you can usually warrant picking these up, because you can never have too many controllers. However, I never want anything to ever happen to these. They're too precious, that's why I don't have anybody over anymore. Yeah, so I kinda have this weird thing where I have to lick every controller that I see. (gasps) Donkey Kong?! Listen, I'll usually buy something like this when it's either A) related to a game I like, or B) the design makes me swoon. I own a Xenoblade Chronicles 2 controller and have no interest in the game. I feel like I'm on a list somewhere. But sometimes special edition controllers are more trouble than they're worth. Again, that's why nobody's invited over here anymore. You have the one guy that notoriously doesn't bathe his fingers go, "Yeah, I'll take the gold one." like, what the f*ck, don't do that to my controller! But to truly appreciate special edition controllers now, we have to go back to when companies said: "Do it yourself." People have been customizing their controllers ever since the dawn of time, and if you want to reach a bit- -we could consider decals to be the first instance of the "special edition". I think a lot of people have seen these Nintendo Power decals for NES controllers. You'd get them with the magazine, and just stick them onto your game pad. These things have always been a thing, still prevalent nowadays. These are the cheapest possible solution to give your controller some flair. The only one I technically have is the controller skin that came with the Sonic Forces bonus edition. Choking hazard? Thank god I read that. But nobody likes talking sticky paper. Everybody wants to talk about controllers that come with paper pre-sticked! Special edition controllers really hit it big during the Nintendo 64 days. Not only were there multiple colors to choose from, but some fancy designs that were definitely harder to come by. Some of these were given away via promotions or sweepstakes or specific catalogs within magazines like the Millennium 2000 controller or the Nintendo Power 100th issue gold one. However one I own happens to be the Donkey Kong 64 controller. It was a special order item through Nintendo Power, and not all too different compared to be standard yellow, but it's hauling the tips with this one. They're bananas! This design makes me way more okay with the standard controller layout. So that's what these things were supposed to be. Many look towards the golden controllers for their daily dose of dopamine. Nothing screams "Special Edition" more than crippling debt. So of course there was a gold Nintendo 64 controller, but there was an even golder(*) controller that is way past rare. These ones were given away at a Star Fox 64 tournament at Nintendo's E3 1997 booth- -and are pretty similar to the standard gold you could get in stores. However, this one had a fancy Nintendo 64 logo on the front. I'd consider the Nintendo 64 to be where special controller variants were truly born. Sure, there were constant revisions of the Sega Genesis controller for example. But those primarily boiled down to: "red buttons" "black buttons" With the N64 offering four controller ports, that obviously meant more controllers were to be sold. So why not sweeten the deal a bit with some designs only a mother could love? These weren't revisions, rather, they were for fans of the console and games. But at this time in gaming, special edition consoles were way more prevalent than just controllers. You were lucky if the controller included in the box got any love at all. The PS1 and Sega Saturn dabbled in this here and there, but we really had to take one giant leap of faith- -into the following generation where we can truly start to see some more special controllers make their debut. The Sega Dreamcast took some notes from the Nintendo 64. See, we have four controller ports, you know what that means! It's f**king blue! But the GameCube was where it's at for special variants. I'd say it definitely wasn't on par with the N64, but we have some interesting ones here. One I happen to have is a controller you could only purchase via Club Nintendo Japan. The Luigi Controller. Oh god, I can't wait to see what it's like! *crinkly plastic* Who could have thought!? Club Nintendo was home to some of the more sought-after special editions for the console. We have a Mario, Wario, and the standard Club Nintendo design, with the Mario design also being offered by Club Nintendo Europe. I honestly think the most interesting thing about these are the boxes. Not only do I like the official name being "LUIGI CONTROLLER" But they made sure to include denim. I know what you're thinking. I love the GameCube. There were a ton of other designs bundled with limited edition consoles. But what about controllers with special functions? Like see, I enjoy this, but I just want more. I think I found another choking hazard! The Keyboard Controller is the white whale of my video game collecting career. I want it, but right around the time I discovered it, it was pricey no doubt, but definitely obtainable. Now we have officially entered the year 2020 and damn it! There goes my fifth kidney! This was only available in Japan and only for Phantasy Star Online, so you could communicate with other players quickly. Yes. This may have no use to me but... well, come on who wouldn't want this? Scribes? Maybe scribes. Of course, if we're talking limited special controllers during this era, there was of course the Resident Evil 4 controller. Huh, that's nice. What the f*ck??? This is no doubt one of the most notoriously bizarre controllers ever created, a chainsaw! Now, of course, one of the iconic enemies in RE4 was the chainsaw man. Considering that he uses a chainsaw and you don't, I don't see how immersive this controller really is. But bonus points where bonus points are due, it really feels like I'm playing a game with a chainsaw. This was also released for the PlayStation 2 and is definitely more of a product of Capcom's than Nintendo's or Sony's. Which that does bring up how third-party companies can definitely put out their own wacky editions. Usually in cooperation with companies that specialize in this kind of trash. The Shadow the Hedgehog PS2 controller, yeah, lines out the store for that one. Sony was never the biggest into custom designs. Normally they'll just do new colors and maybe some special ones here and there. But this is one area- where the Redmonders reign supreme. Of *all* these options, did you really think the publisher of Fuzion Frenzy would put out the most controller variants? Now the original Xbox, they were pretty humble. Here and there we got a few especially with special edition systems, no biggie, but THEN The Xbox 360 came around. Is this a f**king joke!? A lot of these are relatively inexpensive considering I feel that collectors of Xbox stuff are way more endangered- -comparative to Nintendo and PlayStation collectors. Darwinism is hilarious. But that never stopped Microsoft from putting out just a ton of special edition controllers. Many of which were just that. Controllers. You could buy them separately from a console bundle or something. Here I have a Halo Reach controller and a Gears of War 3 controller. I do like the overall look of both of them. I think the Gears one has a better overall design, but I love the minimalistic take on Reach's variant. But I bought these for 10 bucks a pop online. I got this one back in the 360's hayday with my own 14-year old money. I like this one. It's been my go-to 360 controller ever since, the material used feels really premium and the overall- -design being completely grayscale is sleek as all hell. The only problem is some games may tell you, "hit the yellow button", and now you know my colorblind hell. Weirdly enough, Sony and Nintendo barely dived into the special controller market this generation. The Wii was basically just white for most of its life, and then by the time people stopped caring, that's when they added new colors. But none of these were particularly limited or special. I think the core "special" Wii Remote most jump to is the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword edition. Gold with Zelda insignia. It's a fine looking controller. No doubt. But as one of the only special Wii remotes? Eh. But speaking of gold controllers, only available via special editions of Goldeneye 007 was a golden Classic Controller Pro. I love this thing. It's just gold. I found it used at a GameStop back in the day. Again, I will reiterate, I love this thing. Now Sony, they had more specific game based designs than Nintendo, but at least the Wii Remote was a completely new design- -you didn't necessarily have to spice it up with fun colors and shapes. The PlayStation 3 controller was derivative of this, which was derivative of this, I can keep going. They just didn't do a ton with this thing outside of mostly colors. But that changed with the PlayStation 4, look at all these! They really upped their game; we have Uncharted 4, the 20th anniversary of PlayStation, piss there are so many options now! Well it looks like Microsoft finally has some competition on their han- This is fun hell. They even fixed my biggest problem with that silver controller, and have the colors displayed here, it's perfect! They even let you create your own custom controller colors online now. They are f**king looney. But hey, this one's grease proof, a controller that addresses the biggest gaming hurdle. See I want to play Halo, but I just love no fork spaghetti. Now what did Nintendo do with the Wii U, the console with the most integral controller experience? Nothing. I mean there was this Wind Waker one, which was only included in the console bundle; they never sold Wii U gamepads separately. But not even the Wii U Pro Controllers got any special releases; all we got was white and black colors. But special Wii Remotes and Wii U branded boxes were released- -all featuring designs based on the Mario cast, and yep, I have twins. I do feel like these character-specific Wii Remotes are a bit more cool than the GameCube ones. Certain colors are used on certain parts to represent the character- like, the bottom 1 and 2 buttons are brown for his shoes- the plus and minus buttons are yellow for his overall buttons. The back is colored to his overalls in general. Other controller companies had similar ideas when making their own officially licensed Nintendo controllers. I have this Metal Mario classic controller by PDP. These were primarily made for Smash Brothers for Wii U. It may not be a great controller, but it's not a good controller either. The design though is really cool, just with how shiny and metallic it looks. It almost- but doesn't- make up for the lackluster feeling buttons. HORI made their own licensed GameCube-like controllers for Wii Remotes during Smash Wii U's shine time which are far better. Albeit not as good as the real deal. Which was alright, because Nintendo themselves reissued GameCube controllers for Smash Wii U's release, now with a Smash Ball on front! These are GameCube controllers all right, and Nintendo re-released them again for Smash Ultimate! I don't want to hear anybody argue this design is better than the old one. And that brings us to the Nintendo Switch where special edition controllers are way more prevalent. Special colored Joy-Cons and Pro Controllers are finally getting some love. As previously stated, I have the Xenoblade edition; I am terrible. But I also have the Smash Brothers one, which looks great! You have the silver Smash Ball and white grips, and I can already see paint chipping off- -do you see my problem with special edition controllers? See, I really do like these controllers, they look great, they look cool! But controllers are meant to be used and I can't use these controllers without ever feeling guilty! They're too rare and valuable! On the other hand, special edition consoles look cool but they also make much less sense to buy if you already have the console- -though the design will hold up for much longer. So I've come to the conclusion: That I won't buy anything ever. I'm not doing it! Captions by Jobel Captions reviewed by ThatOneEvangelionFan
When are we getting a "special edition L buttons" video?
It's obviously, like, hard to guess how much this episode changed because of the delay, but I will say of all these kinds of episodes that Scott has done, this is definitely one of the best. I fucking lost it at the choking hazard call-back
Another great look at a fun gaming topic from good ol’ New Clothes Scott!
A bunch of great jokes. The extra two days really helped this episode.
this links to youtube. youtube has videos of how to pirate stuff. this post breaks rule 3